Lorain judge saves man with naloxone

Quick thinking and a bit of luck helped a Lorain County Domestic Relations judge save a man’s life.

Judge Sherry Glass said she arrived at her Amherst Township home with her 6-year-old daughter at 5:15 p.m., March 13, which she said is unusual.

“That’s really early for me; just being a new judge, I’m usually (working) later,” Glass said.

According to Glass, her husband, Lorain County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Strohsack, was running errands at the time, but his take home police cruiser was parked in their driveway.

A few minutes after she arrived home, Glass said she heard something at her front door an noticed arms flailing in the windows.

There was a man standing at the door screaming out to her asking if there was a deputy in the house claiming his friend had taken something and was going to die, she said.

Glass said she was reluctant to open the door, fearing the person could be lying to gain entry into her home.

But when the frantic

individual also called 911, Glass said she stepped out of the house to see what was going on.

“(I was concerned because) I had my 6-yearold, my 16-year-old and my mother in the house,” she said.

Glass said she called her husband because she knows deputies carry naloxone in their cruisers, but she didn’t know where he kept it.

By luck, she said, Strohsack immediately answered and she briefly described the situation.

She said Strohsack walked her through how to find and use the lifesaving drug.

Glass said she believed the 24-year-old Vermilion man already had died, but administered the naloxone and felt for a pulse.

“It may sound corny, but he literally looked like The Walking Dead,” she said. “He was just gray and dark faced.”

When paramedics arrived, they administered

two more doses of naloxone before the man began to stir, Glass said.

“He took a really deep, crazy breath and kind of arched his back,” she said.

Glass said though she’s always respected first responders, she has a newfound level of respect because of how many times even in one day they are required to save people’s lives.

“It was a very emotional situation, and though I know the paramedics and the deputies got there fairly quick, it felt like a lifetime,” she said.

Lorain County Sheriff’s Capt. Donald Barker said he was unaware of Glass’ actions, but applauded her willingness to help the man.

“We certainly wouldn’t tell anybody not to be a good Samaritan and not do what they feel safe in doing,” Barker said. “If a person felt safe in rendering that kind of aid, that’s commendable. Good, I’m glad they did.

“If the person was not comfortable in doing that, that’s OK also. A person has to do what they feel comfortable with.”

Glass